THERE were plenty of goals today as the Hannon Greene Insurances Fr O Gara Cup quarter-finals were played in the Inishowen League.
Rasheney, Dunree United, QPS and Clonmany Shamrocks booked their respective places in the semi-finals.
Gleneely Colts 3 Rasheney 4
Gleneely sprung out of the traps and went ahead after two minutes when a ball by Christy McDaid fed Paul Gamble who beat a defender and slotted home to the bottom right corner from 10 yards.
Gleneely went two up minutes later when Ben Miller put a defender and then the keeper under pressure to win the ball in the box and slotted home into the empty net.
Rasheney got one back on 8 minutes after David McLaughlin intereceted a short free from the back to fire home from all of thirty yards.
The visitors equalised on the stroke of half time when a mis kick from a Gleneely midfielder resulted in Charlie Doherty scoring at the back post with a header.
Rasheeny completed a remarkable turnaround when they went ahead a minute after the restart when Cormac Dillon scored to the bottom corner following a John McLaughlin pass from midfield.
Gleneely levelled five minutes later when Ben Miller fired a free kick from twenty five yards to the bottom corner. Play was end to end with chances going a begging with Kevin Doherty hitting the post and Rasheney also going close on a few occasions.
The visitors won the game with five minutes remaining after a defensive mistake allowed Tiernan Stevens to ghost in and score low to Sean McGuiness left hand post.
Dunree United 1 Greencastle Res 0
The first half started tenaciously with both teams not giving an inch in a heated first quarter.After the water break Dunree took a grip of the game.
Some good work down the left from Jamie Brosnan and Caolan McBride left Liam Baldrick well placed but his effort smashed the crossbar with Conor Barrett heading the rebound over .Dunree eventually broke the deadlock when Kyle Barrett cut neatly inside and his deflected effort found the bottom corner.
In the second half a Caolan McBride free from the right eluded everyone excepted the keeper who superbly tipped around the post.Then a Kyle Barrett cross from the left met the head of Dermot Graham who’s effort went inches wide.
Greencastle responded and a Joe Doherty free into the danger area was tapped home Greencastle Shea McLaughlin, but cancelled out by the linesman’s flag.
Two minutes later a deflected effort from Darragh Gillen was well saved by Sean Parker in the home goal.
A bout of pin ball in the Greencastle box left Baldrick with the chance to seal victory but Shaun Cavanagh brilliantly cleared over the crossbar. Dunree held on in the closing stages to advance to the semi finals.
QPS 4 Aileach Res 0
The visitors threatened early with Darren Bradley firing into the side netting and a Paul McGrory effort blocked by Ross Nicholas.
The home side settled and broke the deadlock on 19 minutes after Caolan McColgan ran onto a David Healy pass and from a tight angle squeezed the ball past David McGeady.
Midway through the half the visitors suffered a body blow when McGeady was red carded for handball outside the area as Josh Boyle attempted to lift the ball past the keeper.
The Point dominated from this and Deaglan Bowen had a header cleared by a defender before Healy fired over the bar from twelve yards. Aileach started the second half well and a cross cum shot from Stephen Doherty hit the side netting before the same player’s cross found McGrory but Aiden Lynch in the home goal denied him.
On 65 minutes the home side increased their lead when substitute Shaun Downey found McColgan who evaded two tackles before firing in off the post. McColgan then completed his hat trick with a penalty after Boyle had been upended.
The home side made it four nil on 84minutes after a long clearance from Lynch deceived the visitors defence and fell kindly for Shay Lynch to slot home.
The final action came at the other end in a race for a through ball Aaron Doherty was fouled by the advancing Lynch who picked up a red card.
Clonmany Shamrocks 6 Glengad Res 1
The visitors had the first chance of the game on 3 minutes when a Paul McGonagle in-swinging corner was tipped over the bar by the retreating Patrick Harkin.
Clonmany responded with both Shane McCaul and Dean Harkin seeing efforts saved by Michael McLaughlin in the Glengad goal. At the other end a dangerous run and cross from Paul A McDermott was cut out by Liam Hirrell.
Clonmany upped the tempo at this stage with Steve Harkin firing over when well placed before McCaul found Damien Duffy who slotted home from six yards to put the home side ahead.
Duffy then split the visitors defence with a superb pass for Jason Devlin to run onto in the left channel and fire across McLaughlin to the far corner to double the home sides lead.
Devlin had the final chance of the half when he ran onto Steve Harkins flick but blazed over.
Clonmany got a great start to the second half when Duffy and Devlin combined for Devlin’s deep cross to be slotted home by Dean Harkin.
On 57 minutes the visitors got a goal back when John McDaid crossed from the left for McDermott to fire first time to the opposite corner from 15 yards.
Any thoughts of a comeback were extinguished immediately after a Niall Mclaughlin effort was tipped onto the bar by Michael McLaughlin but Duffy slotted home the rebound from close range.
Devlin added a fifth when he beat the advancing McLaughlin to slot home before they completed the scoring when Devlin pulled the ball back for Mark Mclaughlin to blast home from twelve yards.
